A COLCHESTER businessman who sent money to his nephew knowing he would use the cash to carry out terrorist-related activity will not serve jail time.

Farhad Mohammad, 46, stood trial at the Old Bailey after he denied two charges of funding terrorism by sending the money to his nephew.

The jury was told Mohammad sent £270 to Idris Usman between November 2017 and January 2018 after his nephew sent him a message reading: “Uncle forgive me, God willing I am going to participate in a fighting, either I will stay alive or I become a martyr, it is up to God.”

Usman was an Islamist fighter in Syria at the time he received the money, most likely for Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, a proscribed terrorist organisation linked to Al-Qaeda.

In June 2017, Usman told the defendant: “Uncle for the sake of God send me six and a half waraqa (£500), to buy a weapon, it is the one, which I like it, and may God reward you with good.”

Usman also sent a picture showing him sitting on a motorbike with a gun over his shoulder in August 2017.

On 27 February 2018, Mohammad was stopped before boarding a flight to Turkey from London Stansted Airport where he was found with more than £4,000 in cash and three mobile phones.

When detectives investigated the devices they found text messages and voice notes which were used by officers to make a timeline detailing his conversations and fund transfers.

Nephew - Idris Usman, the nephew of Farad MohammaNephew - Idris Usman, the nephew of Farad Mohamma (Image: The Met Police)

Officers found he had more than £4,000 in cash and three mobile phones – all of which were seized and the contents downloaded by officers, with Mohammad subsequently arrested.

Detectives recovered messaging app conversations and voice notes, which they pieced together to make a timeline detailing his conversations and fund transfers.

In a police interview, the defendant denied funding terrorism and said in a prepared statement he had been living in the UK for 21 years.

He said: “I am a married man with two children, and I am running my own business. I do not have any previous convictions. The allegations have nothing to do with me.”

He was found guilty of both counts in April and sentenced on Wednesday.

Mohammad, of Osborne Street, Colchester, was sentenced to a three-year community order, 250 hours of unpaid work, and 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement.